The calls follow the launch of a high-impact campaign urging residents in rural areas to report all such incidents to the police. In the early hours of Tuesday 11 August, a farmer challenged a group of men with dogs in a Vauxhall Zafira, suspected of poaching on land near South Otterington, Northallerton. The suspects made […]

At about 2.15am on Saturday 8 August 2020, a farmer near Appleton Wiske, north of Northallerton, called North Yorkshire Police on 999. He had just been notified by a vehicle tracking company that his quad bike had been stolen and was on the move. Force Control Room staff immediately contacted the tracking company, and were […]

Poachers normally travel in groups of up to four people, with dogs, using 4×4 vehicles. They typically hunt brown hare or deer. In addition to being a wildlife crime, their illegal activity can cause extensive damage to crops, fields and fences – and leave victims in fear of violence and retaliation. About 80% of poaching […]

At about 9am on Saturday 1 August 2020, members of a North Yorkshire Police Rural Watch group contacted their local police officer, after seeing a suspicious vehicle on land near Newton Morrell. Officers responded and, about an hour later, located the vehicle, and two men with dogs, near Barton. They were spoken to, and sent […]

Local residents, part of a North Yorkshire Police Mobile Rural Watch group, spotted men on land near Appletreewick in Craven, just after midnight in the early hours of Friday 24 July 2020. They called the force’s Control Room on 999, reporting men in a silver Toyota RAV4 with dogs, shining a red torch into a […]

Sometime between 2pm on Friday 24 and 8am on Saturday 25 July 2020, two sheep were injured in a suspected dog attack. They were found by the farmer on Saturday morning. They survived, but required medication from a vet. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact North Yorkshire Police on 101, quoting […]